Partition, Border-Making and Identity Construction: An Oral History of Migrants and Locals in Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

This research article critically examines the profound impact of the Partition and subsequent border-making on the conceptualization of community identity in Punjab in comparison to the conception of the community during British rule, with a particular focus on the city of Okara. By drawing on oral histories from Muslims, Sikhs, and Hindus in the Okara, the study seeks to explore the dynamics of community identity before and after the Partition. The article is structured around three primary themes: first, it analyzes the prevailing processes of community identity construction in Okara during the British colonial period. Secondly, the impact of the partition and border making on community identity construction in the Punjab region, particularly in Okara. The third aspect examines the transformation of community identities among both residents and migrants in the aftermath of Partition, highlighting how forced border-making and displacement reshaped the region's socio-cultural fabric. The study argues that in Pre-Partition Punjab, the identity of the community was derived from locality or residence in Okara. However, at the time of the Partition of Punjab, when communalism was prevalent throughout Punjab, the community's identity was constructed based on religion in Okara. Nevertheless, when border making was completed and no longer were migrants pouring into Okara after three years of partition in Punjab, the identity constructed again became localized, and the identity of the community constructed based on locality assumed primacy. Thus, increasing tensions between the locals and the refugees.